The government’s spending and taxation cause mood shifts and social change, accentuating prosperity or poverty, provoking love, happiness and anger that show up on the screens. N Madhavan writes.India unchained: frame by frame

Mobile phones that cost more than Rs. 2,000, tobacco products including cigarettes and cheroots, sports utility vehicles (SUVs), marble, silver products… the list of products that become dearer in the wake of finance minister P Chidambaram’s budget proposals is long, but not as long as it could have been.

Virtually ruling out rollback of 3% hike in excise duty on SUVs, finance minister P Chidambaram today assured India Inc that a clutch of decisions, mainly on indirect taxes, would be announced during the course of debate on budget and Finance Bill in Parliament.

The government is likely to clamp down heavily on tax defaulters through a string of measures that is likely to be announced in this year's budget, as tax authorities step on the pedal to collect unpaid revenues. HT reports.

Finance minister P Chidambaram today said that the argument for taxing the very rich "a little more" should be considered, fuelling speculations about steps he may take in the budget to boost tax inflows and narrow a widening fiscal gap. POLL: Should India's rich pay more taxes?